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Non-culture diagnosis and serogroup determination of meningococcal B and C infection by a sialyltransferase (siaD) PCR ELISA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1997

R. BORROW ,
H. CLAUS ,
M. GUIVER ,
L. SMART ,
D. M. JONES ,
E. B. KACZMARSKI ,
M. FROSCH  and
A. J. FOX
R. BORROW
Affiliation:
Manchester Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 2LR, UK
H. CLAUS
Affiliation:
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Hannover 30623, Germany
M. GUIVER
Affiliation:
Manchester Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 2LR, UK
L. SMART
Affiliation:
SMPRL, Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow G20 9LB, UK
D. M. JONES
Affiliation:
Manchester Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 2LR, UK
E. B. KACZMARSKI
Affiliation:
Manchester Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 2LR, UK
M. FROSCH
Affiliation:
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Hannover 30623, Germany
A. J. FOX
Affiliation:
Manchester Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 2LR, UK
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Abstract

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Rapid, non-culture, serogroup determination of meningococcal infection is important in contact management where vaccination may be possible. The impending availability of polysaccharide–protein conjugate vaccines for serogroup C disease requires maximal case ascertainment, with serogroup determination, at a time when the number of culture confirmed meningococcal infections is decreasing. A polymerase chain reaction assay (PCR), based on a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in the meningococcal serogroup B and C sialyltransferase (siaD) gene, was developed to combine the non-culture diagnosis of meningococcal infection from CSF, whole blood and serum with serogroup (B and C) identification. The PCR assay was adapted to an ELISA format incorporating hybridization with serogroup-specific B and C oligonucleotide probes. Specificity for CSFs was 100% and sensitivities were respectively 81, 63 and 30% for CSFs, whole blood and sera. The serogroup-specific PCR ELISA is a significant addition to currently available tests for non-culture diagnosis of meningococcal infection and outbreak investigation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 118 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 111 - 117
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press